Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Let Me See If I Have This Straight...Why Words Still Matter


A little bit of insight called "Let Me See If I Have This Straight" has been going around the net, and I thought I'd share it. It reminds us why words (and the intentions behind those words) still matter.

When you're done laughing at that ditty (see below), I recommend reading Eve Ensler's article titled Drill, Drill, Drill and Gloria Steinem's article (written with the lucid wit and common sense that is her hallmark ) titled Wrong Woman, Wrong Message

Excerpt f
rom Drill, Drill, Drill:

I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world.
Excerpt from Wrong Woman, Wrong Message:

This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.

Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."

********************************************

Let me see if I have this straight....

If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic,

different.'

Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

Name your kids Willow , Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first

black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration

drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law

professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with

over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human

Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing

a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on

the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs

committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council

and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months

as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified

to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2

beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real

Christian.

If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your

disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a

Christian.

If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the

proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other

option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen

daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a

prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city

community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values

don't represent America 's.

If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DUI

conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age

25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska

from the USA , your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

- author unknown



Sia


Gif: From the Feminazi blog

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